[dekhn]

The last statement is correct- up until about 10 years ago, the vast majority of consent forms didn't explicitly state that the specimens could be reused for other studies later, that hadn't been consented to.

Now most consent forms explicitly call out the option of the data collector to share the data with more parties for further use beyond the scope of the original study.

[chaps]

Good to know, thanks. Though, that's still a pretty shoddy state of affairs.

[dekhn]

The deeper you go in medical data, the shoddier it gets.